Gary Lineker thinks the BBC should be more upbeat and highlight its strengths. Photo: Jeff Pugh/The Telegraph
Barnes, the riverside retreat that Gary Lineker calls home, is a place where the chic of London meets the comfort of the countryside. It looks like upscale boutiques and beer bars at first glance, but it also has a farmer's market and a duck pond. You can see why it has served as a celebrity haven for decades. And yet, for several dizzying March days, she seemed more like a golden cage to the most politically engaged former football player in the country.
Every morning, Lineker opened the front door to take his dog for a walk, only to face a media flare that even Beyoncé might have turned down. No matter how amiably he tried to take on the burden of fame, the forest of microphones and telephoto lenses proved to be a test for him. So he decided, out of both mischief and annoyance, to make a dash for it.
«I remember having lunch with friends in the city and thinking, 'Oh my God, I don't want this company to follow me or be outside the restaurant,'» he says. “In any case, I always travel by public transport. It's usually about a six minute walk, so I left it three or four minutes before the train left, telling them «I'm late, I have to run.» . There was a younger guy with this huge muffler. He's chasing me and I'm running from him. He yells, «Gary, you're faster than us!» I yell back, «You're half my age!» I eventually made it to the platform, but I almost had a bloody heart attack.”
During that hectic period, the 62-year-old Lineker was the most intent figure in the country. He was at the top of every news release for a week. He was the main subject of discussion on the Prime Minister's Questions. His removal as «Match of the Day» host caused such a stir at the BBC that it almost cost Tim Davy, CEO, his job. Strange as it may seem to remember now, it all came from one tweet — not even a public tweet, but a direct response to one Twitter user who stated that he was “out of order” for describing Swella Braverman’s plans to stop small boats crossing La Manche. how «terrible».
“This is just an immeasurably brutal policy aimed at the most vulnerable people, in language not unlike what Germany used in the 30s,” Lineker replied. “Am I not okay?” Name the mayhem when a chorus of voices denounced him for choosing to compare. Full disclosure: I was one of them, arguing, as I do now, that it is unwise for those in Lineker's position to refer to the worst barbarism in human history when promoting their opinions in our day.
A tweet about Suella Braverman's immigration policy resulted in Lineker being taken off the air. Photo: Telegraph/Geoff Pugh
But he doesn't hold a clear grudge. We meet on the top floor of Barnes' Olympic Studios, the lovingly restored building where the Rolling Stones recorded six albums, and for 40 minutes he is unfailingly polite. For all that Lineker may be attracted to a fierce vitriol who can easily be described as a bleeding-hearted high priest of the liberal elite, one quality not to be missed is his thick skin. He doesn't shy away from questions, and the interview isn't monitored by any PR people. Given his recent history of speaking out in convulsions at the highest levels of authority, this is a welcome surprise.
«I was crying in the back seat of a taxi»
“I am absolutely baffled by some of our media’s obsession with what I say,” he muses. “I don’t get it. I don’t preach, I don’t tell people what to do. who used to play football and now talks about it. I have an interest in politics, but I don't run for parliament or anything like that. I just give my opinion about things.»
It was the fundamental principle of his employer's impartiality that made it problematic to express these views. Amid the Braverman furor, Lineker insisted that as a freelancer for the BBC — though earning the highest salary of £1.35m a year — there was nothing in his contract to prevent him from speaking out on issues, beyond football. Davy disagreed. He could hardly have done otherwise, stating at his 2020 appointment: «If you want to be a self-confident columnist or party activist on social media, then this is the right choice, but you should not work for the BBC.» /p>
So should there be one rule for the superstar host and another for everyone else? Davy pressed the nuclear button, removing Lineker from Match of the Day duties to demonstrate that no one can be above his rules. This move was so impressive that within 24 hours every expert and commentator also left in solidarity with their tortured master. The resulting program, devoid of any musical theme or connecting pieces, was so worn out that it looked like it had been sent from Pyongyang. “I thought the whole thing was pretty sad,” Lineker says. «But what the boys did was incredible.»
Match of the Day experts Alan Shearer and Ian Wright took to sign of solidarity with Lineker. Credit & Copyright: BBC/Pete Dadds
When he learned that the «boys», namely Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, got up from the couch to protest his treatment, Lineker became angry. “It was incredibly touching. For me, as the person for whom they stood up, it meant a lot. I was crying in the back seat of a taxi.”
The support was not limited to his studio colleagues. Indeed, one of the most memorable moments that Lineker experienced the powers he unleashed was when he rushed out for groceries. “I remember going to M&S two or three days later and getting a standing ovation,” he says. «Well, I guess everyone is in M&S, but even so.»
He smirks knowingly. Lineker is familiar enough with his polarized public image to understand how this can be interpreted: a bien pensant chatter class hero who has gone all the way from the organic poultry department to the luxurious desserts department. “Oh, it was really disgusting,” he admits. “I didn't know what to do. I just thought, «Please stop.» I'm checking to see if it's the M&S branch in Barnes. “It was like that,” he confirms with another knowing smile. “Of course it was.”
“Is it bad to wake up?”
Lineker is safe here at Barnes, in the heart of Liberal Democrat territory. He has long stated that he is not a partisan politician and likes to defend the golden mean, the path between what he perceives as noisy extremes. «I don't think most people like this nonsense to yell at people from the other side,» he says. “Look how he starts to take shape for the next election, he is so aggressive and hateful. Most of us are not like that at all. Most of the people in this country are really good, kind people who don't want to get involved in these things. But they are fed with these drops of filth.
It is a curiosity of the era that Lineker became a lightning rod in the culture wars. Just last weekend, he was included in one of the Sunday newspapers' «wake up list» along with self-promotional lawyer Jolyon Maugham and Dame Allison Rose, who were forced to resign as head of NatWest after Nigel Farage discovered that his Coutts account is canceled due to alleged «xenophobia and chauvinism». and racist attitudes.”
“In a way, you have to laugh,” Lineker says. “But this list is made to make people dislike you. I would like to ask you, what is «awake»? This is bad? Does this only apply to people who have some sort of social conscience? I don't necessarily think the call woke the insult. So, this is weird. But if you keep saying «waking up is bad, waking up is bad», people will eventually believe that this is true, whatever «waking up» is.
Lineker doesn't feel insulted when he is called awake. Photo: Telegraph/Geoff Pugh
My guess is that while it originally meant heightened awareness of social injustice, it now tends to apply to people trying to polish their image or tout a worthy fashion reputation. “Yes, but what you end up with is a lot of abuse,” he counters. “So, I think it means the exact opposite of that. You have to be confident enough to stand up for people in the moment because you know you will be accused of being insecure. Or what was it before: a signal of virtue? It's the same argument. He says: «Well-wishers are no good either.»
“It just doesn't make any sense to me. I never fully understood this. And I never feel offended because I consider it a compliment.”
“The more I’m told not to do something, the more I want to do it”
After a battle with the BBC, which had swallowed up the national discourse, Lineker won. There's no other way to say it: he was reinstated on the air the following Saturday without any apology and amid many breathless sermons that he had won the fight for free speech. Lineker, you sensed, rather enjoyed the image, considering how quickly he changed his Twitter profile picture to a picture of himself, in addition to George Orwell's Broadcasting House quote: «If freedom means anything at all, it means the right to tell people , what they want». I don't want to hear it.»
Even after this scandalous media circus, Lineker did not fall behind in his actions. In the past seven days alone, he has expanded tweets about everything from fossil fuel emissions to Rishi Sunak's family ties. It makes one wonder if there has been any tightening of the BBC's rules on social media at all. “I believe it is under consideration,” he says. «I don't know the results yet.»
Gary Lineker is receiving warm applause from the crowd at Wimbledon this year. Photo: Getty Images/Julian Finney
In the meantime, he seems quite content to keep throwing himself into the fire. When I ask if people who went through what he did in March would be afraid to raise their heads over the parapet again, he staggers slightly before saying, “Well, I'm a little stubborn. The more I'm told not to do something, the more I want to do it.
“I always try to be reasonable, but some people take things the wrong way or give them too much importance. Such is the nature of the written word. When you send a text to someone, sometimes people misunderstand it. We've all done it. I always think very deeply before I tweet. Especially with political tweets. If I'm even one or two percent in doubt, I won't ship it.»
«The license fee is amazing value for money»
Lineker doesn't want to sound too triumphant. There have been several unfortunate moments in the way the BBC saga has played out, not least the backlash that so many flawless radio commentators have faced for crossing an imaginary picket line. During Match of the Day Weekend, several people showed up for duty on Radio Five Live and were outrageously denounced as «scab» by social media trolls. «I didn't have a problem with someone doing their job,» he explains. “I didn’t want to put people under that kind of pressure. I didn't participate in it, it just happened.»
Today, he is trying his best to achieve a softer tone. “We are on the same team. Sometimes at the BBC we get too scared instead of telling people what we're good at. It's amazing what the BBC has to offer. I know the license fee divides people, but this is amazing value for money. What you get for that, when it's basically the price of a cup of coffee a week, is something. Sometimes we need to stand up and yell at people about how good this is, instead of being afraid and intimidating people who just want to defund the BBC. Instead of pandering to them, let's talk about ourselves. You always hear the phrase “we pay you a salary”. But I've been with the BBC for a long time. I love the BBC and always will.”
Gary Lineker: the way forward
After one Golden Boot and 48 goals for England, Lineker is taking a step forward in his reinvention as a serious person with his growing investment in the podcast industry. It is his company Goalhanger Productions that is behind Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell's The Rest Is Politics, which revived «the lost art of disagreement by agreement.» Campbell, one of Lineker's staunchest defenders throughout the BBC's power struggle, disapproved when presenter Ben Brown pointed out the business connection, lashing out at the corporation's «scary political cowardice.»
There are two perspectives on The Rest Is Politics: one is that it aims for a nobler, less hostile style of debating, and the other is that it overwhelmingly caters to the “centrist pope” demographic. Either way, it's phenomenally successful, topping Apple's charts among listeners averaging over 30. «We debunk the argument that young people lack attention span,» says Lineker. “One of my favorite episodes was with John Major. It made me think a little why we don't have a politician of this level now.»
«Money isn't everything, but it helps»
In terms of restless energy, Lineker still looks surprisingly young. For starters, he is one of the very few 62-year-old men who can successfully wear a white t-shirt look. And while his snarky jokes already seem ubiquitous, he has an appetite to keep broadcasting as the first episode of The Rest is Football podcast drops on Monday, accompanied by former cronies Shearer and Micah Richards. Can he ever imagine a future outside of the BBC? In the end, Emily Maitlis and John Sopel seem to thrive in News Agents, freeing themselves from the restraints of impartiality. “They had a lot more restrictions than me in news and current events. But I think they feel a bit freer now.”
Lineker's focus remains on football Credit & Copyright : Telegraph/Geoff Pugh
He has put forward the idea of a memoir and is adamant that he wants to write it without a ghostwriter. For now, when he's not making his fiery forays into politics, it's football that monopolizes his attention. “I still watch an incredible amount of games, it's really very embarrassing. Some days I will watch five games from three different leagues.”
There are times when his two passions — football and politics — collide. Grab a glut of Premier League transfers to Saudi Arabia this summer when Jordan Henderson, the former Liverpool captain, faced harsh criticism for a £700,000-a-week move to Al-Ettifak. At one point, Henderson wins awards as an ally to the gay community. He is then paid by a regime that criminalizes homosexuality. Does this undermine his reputation as a convinced person?
“He did nothing wrong,” says Lineker. “Look, I went to Japan at the end of my career for two years. It didn't have the same human rights issues, but still people said, «Oh, he just went after the money.» In part, this was true. It is very easy to be judgmental and holy than you are. But if someone is throwing those numbers around, it's a tough decision for everyone. I'm not going to sit here and say I wouldn't because I don't know if I would. Money isn't everything, but it helps.”
Lineker, who has perhaps the most publicized salary in the country, can attest to the virtues of financial security. This gave him the opportunity to expand his interests, test the limits of acceptable political expression on the BBC, and even — most unusually — gain recognition as the sage of southwest London in his local M&S. /p>
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